Abstract

In the discussion on the above paper Professor W. G. Fearnsides said that the " abundance of separated jointed blocks and heavy scree on the south-east side [of Corndon Hill] and comparative absence of litter towards the west required an explanation ". To the writer this appears to be a geomorphological problem directly related to the glacial conditions which prevailed during Pleistocene times, an aspect which was not discussed at the reading of the paper.

The distribution of drift in the Welsh Borderland has much in common with that of the Isle of Man, both local and extra-insular drift being involved. In the words of Lamplugh (Geol. Surv. Mem. Isle of Man, 1903, p. 352), "Their relative distribution is everywhere in keeping with Mr. Kendall's supposition that only the lower layers of the ice-sheet were drift-laden, and that these were diverted by the steeper hill slopes and swept round the flanks of the massif as an undercurrent."

Applying this principle to the Shropshire area, it is clear that hills such as Corndon and the Breidden, to select two examples, must for long have remained as outstanding nunatakkr similar to those of the Nordenskiöld Glacier of Spitsbergen at the present day. Their western or ice-ward flanks were directly exposed to the oncoming Welsh ice, although the pure upper ice would have little abrasive power. The eastern or leeward flanks were zones of pluck, a process responsible for the disintegration and removal of the rock-face from top to bottom during the progressive

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